[45.05] ASCA Observations of Solar-like M-flares on Proxima Centauri

Stellar flares have been observed in the X-ray for twenty years, but the
events must be much larger --- by as much as a factor of
$10^4$ --- than even the most energetic
on the Sun in order to be detected across
the enormous distances. While stellar ``superflares'' are
of considerable interest, it is equally important to ascertain whether and
with what frequency commonplace solar-like events occur on stars.
This is an important test of the working hypothesis that we are dealing with
scaled-up versions of the same physical phenomenon.
The
new Japanese ASCA satellite has now succeeded in this,
observing very typical
M-class solar-like flares on the next nearest star,
Proxima Centauri.